


High Stakes

by Warped_Nacelle



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Monster High
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Vampire Slayer(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:30:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13077879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warped_Nacelle/pseuds/Warped_Nacelle
Summary: It seems like a vampire student at Monster High has bitten a Normie and Draculaura can’t believe it. She begins her own investigation into what has been happening. It appears that a Normie has been turned into a vampire and Draculaura, Frankie, Cleo, and Lagoona try to make her feel at home in her new school. Draculaura has to overcome some of her own fears of Normies from her past when she was chased out of Transylvania and figure out who is responsible for the violence at her school, especially since now vampires are disappearing.





	High Stakes

High Stakes  
By Warped_Nacelle

Screams echoed out of the infirmary. It was enough to set anyone on edge, but I could also see the blood all the way down the howlways and I got really queasy at the sight of blood. 

I know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? A vampire who is afraid of blood. It sounds like a contradiction, but when ever I saw bl- the red stuff, I got incredibly sick to my stomach. Actually, even mentioning it was a little iffy...

“What is that noise, Draculaura?” Cleo asked me. 

Cleo was covered in bandages, but not because she had been in an accident or needed medical help. These bandages with haunt couture - the height of fashion - and they were part of her scaritage as a mummy. No, not the parental kind, not ‘mommy’, I really did mean ‘mummy’. She was from a really prestigious line too (as she never got tired of telling us), the de Nile family.

“I think someone’s been hurt pretty badly. There’s bl- there’s bl-...” I couldn’t say it, so I just pointed at the red liquid in the howlway. There was... a lot of it. 

Too much of it.

“Oh, do you know what happened? Who is it?”

“No, I have no idea. I came here for the same reason that you did - because there were screams and I was worried about who might have gotten hurt. There were a lot of doctors that ran in there, so whoever it is... they are at least being taken care of. I... we need to get in touch with the ghouls and make sure that everyone is okay.” I pulled out my iCoffin and sent out a group text asking everyone if they were okay. It also helped me to not see any of the blood that was splashed over the howlway floor.

A doctor and nurse emerged from the infirmary and while the doctor looked through her charts, the nurse tried to get her attention. “Doctor Moreau, I wanted to talk to you in the howlway away from the others about this... These look like bite marks”. 

“Yes, yes, an animal attack perhaps?” The doctor replied, rifling through her papers.

“No, the bite pattern is really familiar. It’s a bit too familiar. These.... well, Doctor, they look like fang marks.”

The nurse was a vampire, so she would be able to recognize fang marks fairly easily. I wondered for a moment if she became a nurse to be a little closer to the bl- red stuff. It would be a big temptation for a non-vegetarian vampire, but it would also mean that she was right in the middle of her element.

“What?” Doctor Moreau replied, shuffling through her papers. “What do you mean?”

“Doctor, see the two puncture marks here and here” she pointed to a couple of spots in a photo of the patient, “These are fang punctures... and look at the distance between them. They are placed about the same distance from each other as fangs would be... to be specific, they are about as distant as fangs in an adolescent vampire’s mouth would be.”

“Are you saying that you think one of the students here at Monster High bit this girl?”

“I- I don’t want to say for sure... but it really looks like it.”

“But students know to stay away from the Normies. They know that they are supposed to stay close to the school and besides none of them have eaten human blood. They all eat synthetics. They wouldn’t know what to do with a human body.”

“Well Doctor, look around you. There’s blood everywhere. It isn’t as if they were able to do a good job at drinking this girl’s blood. It doesn’t look like they got more than a taste before leaving her to bleed out.”

Doctor Moreau glanced around the howlway, getting an idea of just how much blood was lost. I am sure she understood it from a medical standpoint, but she was starting to understand just what that would mean about how their patient was harmed.

“I’m not a forensic pathologist” She told the nurse, “it’s not up to me to figure out what happened here. My job is to keep this girl alive. But, I will report your concerns to the police when they investigate. You are right that something is not quite right here.”

“Doctor, you may be missing something about why I am pointing this out to you.” The nurse looked pointedly at the doctor, “If she was bitten by a vampire and if that vampire did share blood with her... well, this girl may rise.”

“Oh...” the doctor paused.

I gasped as I thought about what that could mean. What if this girl did rise as a vampire? That hadn’t happened in centuries. What would it mean for a human to become a vampire?

Doctor Moreau and the nurse were looking directly at Cleo and I.

“Hey, you two, this is none of your business.” Doctor Moreau hollared, “If you heard anything here, it is confidential patient information and you will not share this information with anyone.” She turned to the nurse, “Damn it, did you not notice they were here?”

“Me? What about you?” The nurse asked as the doctor escorted her back into the infirmary.

“Wow” Cleo said, “Now that is news.”

“We should really probably get out of this area.” I said, putting my hand on the small of her back to escort her away from the infirmary.

“Do you think it could be true?” Cleo asked, “Do you think one of the vampire students could have bitten a human girl?”

“How would I know?” I asked. I wasn’t the spokesperson for every vampire in school... but I really hoped it wasn’t possible. It was a pretty terrifying thought that any of our fellow students could be a predator. 

“Well, Draculaura, you are a vampire. You have a certain insider insight.”

“And just what do you think I would know about drinking bloo- red stuff. I’m a vegetarian, remember? Unless they are drinking tomato juice, I’m not going to be able to provide much insight.”

“Yes, but you know these students.” Cleo kept prodding for information, “If it was any vampire student, who do you think it would be?”

“I know them about as well as you do. Apart from when the students from the vampire academy arrived and tried to get me to hang out with them, I haven’t really spent much more time with the vampire students than anyone else has. Most of them have just started hanging out with everyone else, the same as the rest of the monsters here. Only a few of them still stick to the vampires only club ideas.”

“Ooooh maybe it was one of them? One of the ‘vampires only’ students. They seem like they might be more into reclaiming vampire heritage and maybe getting back into biting.”

I couldn’t believe Cleo was talking like this. No Monster High student would hurt anyone else. It just wasn’t in our nature. 

But there was a nagging sensation at the back of my mind. She was right that some of the ‘vampires only’ students would be the most likely to decide that biting was part of their scaritage and start that activity back up again. 

“Seriously Cleo? I couldn’t imagine anyone here hurting anyone else.”

“Oh, I could.” Cleo smiled, “Do you know how many times a day I think about hurting Toralei?”

I rolled my eyes and the two of us chuckled. 

“Oh,” I looked down at my iCoffin, “I heard back from the rest of the ghouls and none of them are hurt, but all of them want to know what happened. How do we tell them what happened without telling them any ‘confidential patient information’?” 

“Oh, seriously, you were planning on listening to that doctor?” Cleo asked, incredulously, “That was about the only part of the conversation that I didn’t listen to. How can we keep this from our ghoulfriends?”

“Well, it is confiden-“

“Oh Draculaura, how could we put them in danger. If someone is out there hurting people, they have a right to know.”

I knew that Cleo was only adding on the last part because she knew it would convince me to share the gossip. She knew how to appeal to my worrisome self and she was right, I was definitely going to tell them now. Patient confidentiality didn’t matter as much as the safety of my ghoulfriends.

“Fine, you’re right, Cleo, we need to tell them.”

Cleo smiled broadly.

 

***

“Did you hear the news?” Cleo asked me, “Apparently the girl who was bitten by a vampire student escaped from the infirmary last night!”

“We don’t know she was bitten by a vampire and what do you mean she escaped? She wasn’t being held prisoner there.”

“No, but she left without telling any of her doctors.”

“Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know” Cleo said and then made little fangs with her fingers “Maybe she vanted to drink some blood?”

“Come on Cleo, seriously?”

“I am being serious. I think she rose as a vampire last night and woke up disoriented in her new vampire body. My guess is that she went back to Normie town, but I’m worried that she will have a very rude reception there.”

“Oh you could be right” I replied, noticing how nervous I sounded, “Maybe we should try to sneak into Normie town to help bring her back, just in case she is lost or wandering around down there.”

“I thought you said that you didn’t believe she was turned into a vampire?”

“I- I still don’t but we need to make sure she is okay.” I pulled out my iCoffin, “I’ll text the ghouls and see if they want to come with us.”

“Wouldn’t a smaller group be more stealthy?”

“I suppose... but do you really want to get caught in Normie town if it is just the two of us?”

“Good point. We really should have some backup.... not that I don’t trust you.... or me. I just think that it might be sensible to have a few others to help with the search.”

“Okay, just Clawdeen, Frankie, Lagoona, Abby, Skelita, and Ghoulia then.”

“Uh, I just want to raise a small concern about Ghoulia. Maybe we should have her on tech support here... She isn’t exactly fast, and what happens if we have to run? She is a zombie. She’s brilliant and everything, but her body isn’t really made for... fast.”

“Okay okay, good point. She can run point from here and monitor Normie news to find out what happened to the girl.”

“Tell the rest that we will meet them out in front of the school. We’re going to have to cut class today, but I think the Headmistress will understand.”

The rest of the ghouls were already out in front of the school by the time we got there. They looked pretty anxious about the whole trip to Normie town. Normies... humans... are extremely prejudiced and they tend to focus a lot of their prejudice on monsters. They are so prejudiced against us that most of them don’t even know that we exist. They think that we are fiction because they can’t imagine anything as strange as us. 

There is a bad history between humans and monsters. My own family was driven out of Transylvania by humans who were intent on killing us. Yes, their prejudice really was bad enough that they actually forced us out of our homes and tried to murder us. 

I would like to believe that Normies had changed over the centuries, but everything we learned about them in Human Studies confirmed that they were just as prejudiced and bigoted as they have always been. 

I normally liked to look for the good in anyone and believe that anyone can learn to be accepting and grow to be inclusive, but I know that I had my own biases about Normies too. We vampires used to tell stories around the campfire about the dangers of human vampire hunters, but there was one terrifying figure that haunted all of our nightmares - the Vampire Slayer. 

I still have nightmares about the Vampire Slayer. Our stories were never clear about whether there were multiple Slayers or only one, but the most common myth about them was that there was one Slayer chosen in every generation to hunt and kill us, a girl who inherited incredible powers and focussed them entirely on discrimination against the vampires and other monsters. 

It was because of my fear of the Slayer and her bigoted violence that I spent my life trying to be everything that is the opposite of her. I wanted to be accepting, open, friendly. I wanted to make sure that everyone felt welcome and safe. I wanted to be an anti-Slayer.

But even the name still makes me tremble- “Slayer”, it sounded like something right out of the horror boovies, something so over the top scary that it could only really work on the big screen.

So, I hoped that it was just my own fear based on campfire stories that had me trembling at the thought of going into Normie town and dealing with humans. They are probably way more friendly and much less bigoted than we all thought they were.

“Ghoulia’s been sending me updates” Frankie said, electricity sparking at the bolts in her neck, “and so far there has been nothing in the Normie news about anything strange or unusual... well, anything stranger or more unusual than the sort of things that always happen in Normie town. I figure maybe we sneak down to town and hide in the bushes just to see if there are any signs of anything out of the ordinary... for them?”

“Good idea” Clawdeen said, “I will try to sniff out whether there are any strange scents in town or the smell of blood anywhere.”

I wavered a bit when Clawdeen mentioned the b word, and was thankful that the werewolf sense of smell was so much better than my own. I can’t imagine having to walk around smelling blood.

“I think I can stay hidden best if I stick to the water.” Lagoona said, flashing her fins, “I’ll take the river into town and scout how things are at the edge of the lake and up some of the streams in town.... as long as it is okay if I abandon you ghouls, that is?”

“I’d really like everyone to stick together” I said, a bit worried at the idea of Lagoona going off on her own, “But you are right, you are much better able to hide under water and you may be able to check things out in areas that we can’t get to.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice” Lagoona said, skipping over to the river that came up to the school and jumping in.”

“Abby can create some snow to hide us.” Abby said. For some reason she liked to talk in third person and we had all sort of accepted this as one of her quirks.

“It’s still a bit early in the fall for snow,” Frankie said, “but we will keep that as a backup option if it looks like we are going to be caught.”

“I can send my ancestor spirits into town and see if they can find out anything” Skelita said, “They will be able to pick up on changes that we might not be able to notice.”

“Okay ghouls, lets get on our way” I said.

***

We tried to stick to areas away from any Normie activity, mostly checking out old, abandoned buildings. We figured that if there was a new vampire, she would probably stick to places that weren’t very populated. 

Clawdeen’s nose picked up fresh blood outside of an old building that looked like a school, but had bars on the windows. The sign outside said that it was an “Asylum”, but that wasn’t something that we had learned about yet in Human Studies. 

I started to wonder if Normies actually locked children in school to keep them there for the full day. It seemed like a really cruel way to make sure that no one cut classes, and it reminded me of all of my fear of Normies.

I was starting to think that we should have brought Jackson Jekyll with us. He was at least part Normie, so he could have possibly explained some of this stuff to us. But honestly, when it comes to things that are dangerous like this, I just trust the ghouls and they’re always the first ones I think of. I always know I can count on them.

“Wait,” Skelita paused, closing her eyes, “My ancestors say that there is someone inside the building. But they also say that she isn’t scared. That seems strange to me. I would have thought that someone who had been attacked by a vampi- by someone - would be pretty afraid.”

I was thankful that Skelita decided not to say that she was attacked by a vampire. I know that I was probably being idealistic, but it just didn’t seem like something any of us would do - it didn’t seem like something any student at Monster High would even consider doing.

“I think it’s her though” Clawdeen said, “I smell blo- I smell the red stuff.” She winked at me, “So I think this is the right spot.”

“Okay, lets go in... but can someone stick with me please in case I see any of the red stuff and faint?”

“Of course, Abby will carry you if you faint.” Abby said, making a lifting gesture with her arms “Abby does not mind and you are very light and easy to move.”

“Thanks Abby. So, maybe teams of two?”

“Frankie, you wanna come with me” Clawdeen asked.

“Skelita how about you follow me” said Cleo, walking forward without waiting for Skelita to reply. Cleo preferred to be with someone a bit quieter anyway. She liked to be the one doing most of the talking and Skelita was an extremely shy and quiet skeleton.

The building was falling apart on the inside. Wires hung from the ceiling and there were holes in the walls. Graffiti covered the walls. 

“Why do all of these walls have padding on them?” I asked Abby, “It seems like a weird way to design a room...”

“Maybe humans sleep on walls?” She replied, miming falling asleep against the wall, “Is only reason I can think why they would need bed on walls.”

“Do you think that they sleep in this school?” 

“Maybe they learn in sleep?”

“Then why would they have to lock everyone in? This whole set up just seems confusing to me.”

“Idea of bed is confusing enough for Abby. Abby would be happy to sleep on snow. Is soft, is nice and cold, and is easy to clean up - no sheets!!”

I smiled at her “That does make making the bed a lot easier.”

“See, you can learn from Abby”

There was a sound from a few rooms down. It sounded like someone dropping a wooden stick.

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“Yes. Should we let person know we are here or should we be quiet when approach?”

“Maybe a quiet hello?”

“Hello” Abby hollared, “We are here. We do not want to hurt you.”

“Okay, that works too.” I started down the hallway.

“What do you mean ‘we’” a voice called back, “How many of you are there?”

“There are six of us here” I said, “But don’t worry, we are friendly.”

“Friendly?” I heard her ask. I could have sworn I heard a stick being thrown away.

“Yes. We don’t want to hurt you. We are here to help.”

“Okay... you can come a bit closer then I guess.”

Abby and I peaked around the door of the room that the voice was coming from. There was a dark haired girl crouched down in the corner. She looked like she was ready to pounce if she needed to. 

“Hi” i said, waggling my fingers.

“Jesus, are you a vamp?” The girl asked.

“Yes, I’m Draculaura, and I’m a vampire. But I’m a vegetarian. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t hurt you. None of us would.”

“I’m sure” she sneered at us.

She seemed pretty prickly, but that might just be because she was afraid of us.

“This is Abby”

“Hello” Abby said, trying to waggle her fingers like I did with mine.

“Oh god, what is that?” The girl asked, pointing at Abby.

“Oh, Draculaura said already. I am Abby.”

“Yes, but... what are you?” She seemed more curious than afraid.

“Ab- by” she said slower.

“Oh, I think you are asking about her scaritage.” I said, trying to manage the conversation between the two of them and explain a bit to the human girl, “Abby is from the Himalayas. She is what humans call an abominable snowman or a Yeti”

“So, let me get this straight - you’re a vamp called DracuLAURA and she’s an abominable snowman named ABBY? You have to be kidding me with these names!”

“What is wrong with name?” Abby asked me, “Is good name. Is family name.”

I was as confused as she was. Maybe our names mean something different in the Normie world. I hope that they aren’t swear words!

“Already, whatevs, to each her own, I guess.” The girl said, “You can call me Slaymie then, Slaymie Stakes” 

What a horrifying name! I couldn’t believe that humans actually named themselves after the weapons they used to kill my people. I tried hard to smile and extended a trembling hand to her, “Nice to... meet you.” I said. 

Slaymie took a few moments before she took my hand. She seemed pretty cautious around me. 

“Hey, so, why did you come looking for me” Slaymie asked, “Are you from that- that place I was taken to last night?”

“Monster High? Yes. We are students there.”

“Oh you have to be kidding me. A whole high school full of monster kids?”

“Yes. We are a school that focuses on diversity. We want to make sure that there is a place for everyone no matter what scaritage they come from.”

“So... lots of different monsters then?”

“Yes. I’m really sorry if anyone frightened you. You were in the infirmary last night because you had been wounded and when you disappeared a few of us ghouls thought you might need help, so we came to find you.”

“Need help, eh? Huh... well, I guess I might belong with you there now since someone made me a vampire.” She pulled her upper lip up and showed two fangs.

I admit that I gasped. I was still holding out hope that the doctors were mistaken. 

“You look surprised” Slaymie said.

“I am. We don’t do this sort of thing. We don’t turn humans into vampires.”

“Just drink us dry then?” Slaymie asked with a twist to her lips.

“No. Of course not. We haven’t drank bl- the red stuff - in ages. Students at Monster High definitely don’t drink blood.”

She stared at me for several seconds.

“Oh, except for y- well, whatever happened to you. But, honestly, this isn’t something that I would have expected. Do you remember anything about what happened? Can you describe who did this to you?”

“I don’t remember much to be honest. I just remember someone biting into my neck. I think it was dark because I can’t remember what they looked like.”

Frankie and Clawdeen came into the room and Slaymie jumped backward into a crouch, ready to attack. She definitely had vampire reflexes to go along with her fangs.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me - a were?! Seriously?!” She looked Frankie up and down, “and whatever that is.”

“It’s pretty insulting to use the term ‘were’, I’m a werewolf.” Clawdeen said, letting her teeth show.

“Clawdeen” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth, “She’s a Normie. She doesn’t know... and besides, she’s been attacked.”

“Aha! I knew it” Cleo’s voice came from the doorway and she came in followed by Skelita, “You finally admit that a vampire attacked that girl”

“I wish it wasn’t true” I felt tears welling up in my eyes, “But she has fangs and vampire reflexes. I can’t think of any other explanation.”

Frankie put her arm around my shoulders “I’m sorry Draculaura, I wouldn’t have expected it of any Monster High student either. It’s so strange.”

“I’m sorry” I said to Slaymie, “This shouldn’t be about me. It should be about keeping you safe and I think Monster High is the best place for you. Normies- humans - can be pretty discriminatory toward monsters and I am worried that you would get hurt.”

“Humans are discriminatory toward-“ Slaymie began, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“I know it might be hard to accept” Clawdeen said, “But many of us have been attacked by humans in the past. Draculaura’s whole family was driven from Transylvania, for example. We just think you might be safer up at Monster High.”

 

***

Slaymie didn’t seem particularly interested in classes. She seemed to pay a lot more attention to the other students. I couldn’t help but see a predatory look in her eyes and I wasn’t sure if that was just me assuming I would see a predatory look or whether she actually was looking at all of us as victims.

She sat during class tossing her pencil up in the air and catching it. She would spin it around her fingers. It all seemed pretty innocent - just the normal behaviour of a bored ghoul, but I kept seeing something sinister in it. It felt like she was wielding her pencil like a weapon.

I was really upset that I couldn’t seem to get over my biases. I understood where they were coming from. Humans had run my family out of our home and killed so many vampires, but that was a long time ago and I couldn’t assume that just because those humans were bigots that Slaymie was too. 

“I thought I was better than this” I whispered to Clawdeen.

“What do you mean Draculaura? I think scarithmatic is hard for everyone. Only Ghoulia and Frankie seem to get it right away. The rest of us have to really work at it.”

“No, not that... though scarithmatic is terrifying. I mean I thought I was open and accepting of everyone’s differences, but I can’t seem to get over my biases about Slaymie.”

“Oh ya, that ghoul don’t smell right to me, and I don’t just mean because she doesn’t smell like other vampires. I mean there’s something off about her.”

“Of course there is. She was attacked by one of the students here. She has a right to be a bit off. And I’m not helping. Every time I look at her, all I can see are the mobs of murderous humans that drove us out of our home and hunted us. I didn’t think that I would be a- a-“

“A what?”

“A bigot.”

“Draculaura, you’re not a bigot. You don’t have a bigoted bone in your body. You are always the one bringing people together regardless of their scaritage. You are even in a relationship with a werewolf and you know how much bad bl- how much bigotry there has been between werewolves and vampires.”

“I know, but maybe I am just okay with monsters. Maybe I have some hang ups about humans.”

“It’s possible, I guess. I mean, they did try to kill you and your family.”

“Yes, but that wasn’t Slaymie”

“I know, I know. I just mean that you might have some trauma from that. You know, like humans might be a bit triggering for you. It doesn’t mean that you should keep being biased about them, but maybe you need to give yourself some time to work through it all.”

“You’re right Clawdeen. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I think the first thing I need to do is help figure out which vampire attacked Slaymie and make sure she is safe.”

“That’s not really what I meant.. I meant work through some of the emotional-“

“There have to be some indicators about what happened to her. We need to interview some of the vampire students to see what they know about this.”

“Okay okay, I see you don’t want to deal with the emotional stuff. We will figure this out, but then maybe afterward you can talk to a counsellor?”

“Any idea who we should start with?”

“Well, you said that the nurse said that the bite mark was from an adolescent-sized jaw, so that eliminates the vampire teachers and janitors, so we only really need to focus on the students. What about Gory Fangtell? She was a student at that vampire school Belfry Prep and when she first got here, she was sort of anti-werewolf, especially with that whole Vampowerment movement that was all about vampire supremacy. She seems like she might be pretty pro vampire past-“

“I don’t think that Gory would-“

“And even if she doesn’t, she is still pretty influential, especially among the vampire students. She would know any gossip going on.”

“Okay, so we talk to her at lunch?”

“Done.”

 

***

Gory tossed her violet hair, making sure to talk to her current favourites while snubbing people who were out of favour. She ran the creepateria like it was a royal court and they were all courting her favour. She made sure to switch up her favourites regularly to keep them on edge and make sure that they always tried that extra little bit to keep her friendship.

“Bram seriously took me on a date to the cliffs overlooking Normie town. I mean, seriously, why would I want to look down on the Normies. Talk about boooring. How about taking a ghoul to the mall? You know, something exciting. But noooo, he was like ‘look at how romantic the moon is’. The moon? Seriously, what am I, a werewolf?! Oh Draculaura and Clawdeen, sorry I didn’t see you there.”

She had totally seen us.

“I bet Clawd takes you on dates to see the moon all the time, doesn’t he? He probably thinks that sort of thing is romantic. Maybe I should just date a werewolf if Bram is going to keep acting like one?”

I could see how enraged Clawdeen was. She was doing a great job of keeping her calm in front of Gory, but I could see her fur standing on end.

“I don’t know if any of the werewolf students would be into you. They’re not really big on just spending time indoors” I said, playing ignorant. I know that most people saw me as a bit of a ditz, and sometimes it was just easier to play along and pretend that I didn’t understand than to deal with the things that people say.

“What night was it that you were out looking down at Normie town?” Clawdeen had gone into full detective mode, “Was it about two nights ago?”

“What business is it of yours?” Gory didn’t even bother to make eye contact with us. If she could have gotten one of the other ghouls to answer for her, I’m sure she would have.

“Do you know about the girl who was attacked two nights ago?” I asked, “We are worried and just trying to figure out if you saw anything. We thought if anyone knew anything about it, it would be you. You get to hear all of the great gossip.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that.” Gory said, “No, I didn’t see her or anything weird.”

“Are you sure?” Clawdeen asked, leaning closer. If she could have turned a single light on her to make her sweat out the interrogation, I was sure that she would have.

“What Clawdeen means is... well, can you keep a secret?”

“Of course” Gory said (she definitely couldn’t).

“Well, it looks like a girl was attacked by a vampire.”

Gory stood up abruptly “What?! Are you serious?!”

“Shhhh, keep your voice down.” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder to try to ease her back into sitting down.

All of the other vampire students at the table were leaning forward, trying to listen now.

“Draculaura, you know as well as I do that no vampire has attacked a human in... well... in centuries. Who would do something like that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure it out. I couldn’t believe it either, but Cleo and I overheard a nurse say that Slaymie (that’s the girl who was attacked) had vampire bite marks on her neck... and worse than that, the bite marks were from an adolescent - that means a student here at Monster High”

“I can’t believe Cleo had gossip that I didn’t know about! How insulting. Thank you for letting me know. This is something we vampire students should be looking into together.” She glanced sideways at Clawdeen as though inviting her to leave.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me” she said, “Really, you are going to cut me out of this?”

“No, no” I said, “We would never cut you out. We need the whole school involved in figuring this out.”

“I would have cut her out” Gory said, “But if you want this to be everyone’s business, I guess that’s your choice.... But what happens when everyone in the school decides to turn against the vampire students? What happens when they start to decide that we’re all bad?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Really, because I don’t know if you remember being hunted and chased out of Transylvania, but I definitely do and it’s not something I want to repeat. I know you think all of these rosy thoughts about everyone getting along, but... well, that only works when everyone is happy. You’ve lived as long as I have, you know what happens when people get unhappy, when they stop trusting... they start looking for someone to blame... and right now all of the evidence is pointing at us. It’s only a matter of time before fingers, claws, and tentacles start pointing in our direction.”

“Maybe you’re-“ I started

“No” Clawdeen interrupted, “The worst thing you can do is isolate yourselves. That only makes people look guilty. Get everyone involved. Work together as a group and we can figure everything out.”

“Well, I wish I knew something, but I didn’t see anything.” Gory said.

“Did anyone else notice anything two nights ago?” Clawdeen asked.

“I heard some weird screams” said Carmilla le Fanu, “I was at Monster High late because I was running lines with a few people for the play. You were there too Orlock. Did you notice anything?”

“I just thought it was part of the play when I first heard it” Orlock Shadows said, “I didn’t really think anything of it until I heard at school the next day that there was someone in the infirmary.”

“You thought it was part of the play” Clawdeen asked, “What kind of play are you performing?!”

“A Midsummer Night’s Scream”, Said Orlock, “So... lots of screaming. You should get your tickets before they are sold out. It is going to be fabulous!!”

“Ooooh I love that one!” I said, “So many twists and turns and nothing is as it seems. It’s so dream-like”

“I know, right?” Orlock said.

“Let’s get back on track” Clawdeen interrupted our little fan party, “Is there anything that seems strange now that you know what happened? Did you see anyone weird around the school? Did you hear anything out of the ordinary... apart from the screams?”

“No, nothing.” Said Carmilla, “It was actually pretty quiet. We were on stage pretty late because someone kept forgetting his lines.”

“I know! I know! I promise I will get them down before we go on stage.”

“You better!”

“What about Bram?” Clawdeen asked, “Was he with you all night? Was there ever a time when he wandered away?”

“Are you seriously accusing my boyfriend?” Asked Gory, “You have got to be kidding me?!”

I jumped in before things heated up too much, “No, no, it’s not that, Gory. Clawdeen just wanted to make sure that we could take him off of our suspect list because right now every student is a suspect.”

“Ya, every vampire student!” Gory said, lifting an eyebrow, “What if someone else is trying to set us up? Maybe one of the werewolf students wants everyone to turn against us.”

“Are you serious right now?!” Clawdeen yelled.

“Okay okay, let’s calm down a bit” I tried, gently moving between Clawdeen and Gory, “Clawdeen, it looks like no one here knows anything. We still have time to check with a few others before class. Let’s make sure we check everyone out.”

I could hear Clawdeen huff, but instead of jumping across the table at Gory like I thought she would, she rolled her eyes, shrugged and said, “Alright, who else is there?”

“Oh, oh wait” Gory interrupted, “I was reading Fangtastic Fashion and apparently Justin Biter was in town a few nights ago on his way to his next concert... but it turns out that he didn’t check in at his hotel. You don’t think Justin Biter could be the attacker, do you? OMG, what if it is him?!! Could you imagine?”

“That’s actually a really good lead. Thanks” Clawdeen said.

“Don’t act all surprised or anything.” Gory said.

“It wasn’t acting” Clawdeen said, pulling me along.

“Okay, there is no way that it was Justin Biter, right? I mean seriously, how could he do anything like that. It’s just not like him at all.” Okay, I admit, I was a fan and I couldn’t believe that someone so adorbs could be an attacker.

“Okay, I know what you are feeling” Clawdeen was using her ‘calming Draculaura down’ voice, “But really, what do we know about him? I mean, he is a celebrity and they work really hard on their image. What if he is really different than his image?”

“What do I know about him? What do I know? I know EVERYTHING! I have all of his music, every interview he’s ever done, recordings of all of his concerts. I even met him once! Trust me Clawdeen, I know him” 

Okay, I admit, I was in full fan melt down mode.

“But that’s different. Remember, he is performing.”

“No one could be more real and true!!” I yelled at her.

“Okay, okay. Well, let’s keep our minds open.” Clawdeen noticed that I was about to interrupt again, “Just so we can cross him off the list too. Plus, what if something happened to him? Shouldn’t we check on him?”

“Okay okay, you’re right. Tonight after school? We can go to the Belleview and see if anyone there knows what happened?”

“Okay. Jeez” Clawdeen chuckled, “I thought you were ready to bite my head off.”

“Probably not the best time for a biting joke.”

****

The manager at the Belleview hotel was pretty reluctant to give two fan ghouls information about Justin Biter. He seemed to know that we were fans right away even though I was pretty sure that I had my serious face on.

“Look ghouls, I don’t know anything, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I’m not going to help anyone stalk their favourite celebrity.”

“We aren’t stalking him” Clawdeen said, “We are trying to figure out what happened to him. Two nights ago, a Normie girl was attacked and we want to figure out if Biter’s disappearance is connected to her attack.”

“Two nights ago? Well, that singer was supposed to be here three nights ago and didn’t show up. No phone call. Nothin’. But we did find his car in the parking lot. Real nice one too. It’ll be a shame to have it toed, but he ain’t gonna get free parking from us.”

“Thank you” Clawdeen said, pulling me toward the door.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You heard him, Justin Biter’s car is out in the parking lot. So, maybe something happened between the car and the hotel.”

“Okay, but how do we find the car that belongs to him.”

“You heard the hotel manager - “real nice one” - and Justin seems like that kind of celebrity who would need to drive a big car and try to show off.”

“He’s not like-“

“Okay, agree to disagree. We can argue later. Right now, let’s check his car.”

Okay, Clawdeen may have had a point. We found his car pretty fast because it was the shiniest, most suped up car in the lot. Not only was it an expensive car, but he had added gold rims, UV lights underneath, and had the car lowered to make it hug the ground. Even I admit that it was a little too much... I just wouldn’t admit it out loud.

“But how do we get in?” I asked after we took a look around the car and found nothing.

“Uh, I am going to show you something that I need you to keep secret.” She said.

“Oookay...”

Clawdeen extended her claws, jamming one into the keyhole on the door of the car and twisting several times. There was a loud click and the door opened.

“How did you-“

“I read a lot of detective books. I figured it would be good to lean some of the tricks of the trade.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously - don’t tell anyone. People wouldn’t get it.”

“I don’t get it.”

“And I don’t get your love of Justin Biter, so we’re even.”

Clawdeen took a few sniffs around the car and I opened the glove box and shuffled through the papers. To be honest this was only about 10% detective work and about 90% fan work for me. Okay, I admit, I was being a bit creepily fan girl here.

“Does Justin Biter smoke?” Clawdeen asked.

“No. His grandfather died of lung cancer. He is really against smoking. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was noticing a smell of ash in the car and then I saw this” She pointed at a little pile of ashy dust in the back seat of the car.

“Oh my. Oh. Clawdeen.... That’s not cigarette ash”

“No, I know. It doesn’t smell right. Something smells weird about it.”

“Yes, I think that... I think that pile of ash is Justin Biter.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“When a vampire is staked... We... well, we turn into ash.”

Clawdeen pulled her nose back from the ash, wiping it with her hand, “So, that’s-“

“I... I think so.”

“It - it does smell like him. Well, it smells like whoever owned this car... under the ash smell.”

I tried hard not to cry. I didn’t really know him... not really.

I’m not really even sure that the tears were because I mourned him. I think it may have been the horror of another vampire murder. It reminded me too much of what had happened to so many of my friends and family back in Transylvania.

“We should report this to the police.” Clawdeen said, trying to distract me.

“Yes... Wait, can we look around a little more?”

“We really shouldn’t. We’ve already contaminated a crime scene.”

“Just a quick glance.” I said, turning into a bat. I flew under the car’s seats to see if there was anything there. 

I found lipstick. I didn’t move it because I figured it could be evidence, but I did look closely at it. It was a weird colour name - Scarlet Empress. It looked pretty dark red too. It was a bold colour choice. I mentioned it to Clawdeen and we decided to share what we saw with the police. Who knows, maybe there is a murderer out there who liked red, red lips.

 

***

“Have you seen Ruthven?” Carmilla asked us when we got back to school after speaking to the police.

“No, we’ve been investigating Justin Biter. Why do you ask?” 

“He didn’t show up for lunch, but after you talked about a vampire possibly being missing, I started asking people questions and it turned out that no one had seen Ruthven all day. Vlad said he saw him come into school this morning, but after that, he disappeared. I had Stoker call his mom, but she said he wasn’t at home. We have been combing the school and the catacombs, but so far no sign of him.”

“Any way he could be cutting classes?” Clawdeen asked.

“No, that’s not like him at all.”I said, “Ruthven is a studyholic. He’s never missed a class. His parents don’t have a lot of money and he wants to go to a top university, so he needs a scholarship.”

“That’s why we think something happened to him.” Carmilla replied, “Wait, what happened with your Justin Biter investigation? Maybe Ruthven is wherever he is.” 

“Oh I really really hope not” I squeaked out.

“Why? What happened to Justin Biter?” 

“Trust me” Clawdeen said, “You don’t want to know.”

“He got hurt, didn’t he?” She started to cry, “And that means that Ruthven could be hurt somewhere too. Oh, we have to find him! Will you stay after class with me and help search?”

I can’t stand to see anyone else cry and I was already tearing up along with Carmilla. Thankfully, Clawdeen replied “Of course we will. Just give Draculaura and I a chance to talk.” 

Clawdeen pulled me aside. “School can be pretty stressful on people and it sounds like Ruthven was under a lot of extra stress.... You don’t think he could have... you know, snapped or anything and maybe bit someone?”

“No, no. It’s impossible. Ruthven is a vegetarian, like me. The only thing that stress might cause is a few drained vegetables.”

“I don’t know, Draculaura, people do really weird things when they’re stressed. They can really change.”

“Not like this. This just doesn’t seem like him.”

“I almost wish he did snap... I am pretty worried that he got dusted just like Justin Biter did.” Clawdeen realized what impact her words would have on me right after she said them, “Oh, Draculaura, I’m sorry. I - maybe he’s just... trapped somewhere and we can set him free. Let’s take a look in the catacombs below the school.”

“Do you think Operetta can help us? She knows the catacombs so well and she basically lives there.”

“Great idea! I’ll send her a message on my iCoffin.”

The catacombs were pretty creepy, even for us ghouls. There were a lot of nooks and crannies that had a little bit too many cobwebs to be decorative. At least there was the comforting sound of bats all around us to get rid of that chill in the air.

Operetta liked to play her music loud, but she could walk as quiet as a ghost... probably because she was a Phantom of the Opera. So, while I was keeping an eye out for Ruthven, I was also keeping an eye out for Operetta so that she wouldn’t scare me when she crept up.

“Ghouls, ah’ve looked everywhere through these catacombs,” A melodic voice from the shadows said, “Ah even checked into some of the secret passages that no one but me knows about just in case your friend Ruthven found out about them, but ah haven’t seen anything. Ah don’t think he’s down here.”

Clawdeen put a comforting hand on my shoulder “Let’s just look another time to make sure. Did you see anything out of the ordinary at all Operetta.”

“Darlin’ everythin’s out of the ordinary down here. That’s why ah like it. But everythin’s the ordinary out of the ordinary if ya know what ah mean?”

“No weird sounds or anything today?” I asked.

“Not while ah’ve been here. You know how hard ah work to perfect mah acoustics... but that doesn’t mean somethin’ mighta’ happened while ah was in class.”

“Okay, it’s worth another look” I said. “Clawdeen, could you see if you can get Ruthven’s scent and maybe follow it?”

She sniffed the air. “I’ve been trying to sniff every once in a while but I haven’t smelled anything yet. I don’t really know Ruthven well, so I don’t know if I’d recognize his scent. Any chance you have something of his?”

“I don’t, but let me send a message to Carmilla and see if she has anything that belongs to him.” I ran my fingers across my phone. Carmilla got back to me immediately and said that she didn’t have anything on her but Orlock was able to get into Ruthven’s locker and could bring us his gym shirt.

“Ewww” said Clawdeen, “I don’t want to be sniffing Ruthven’s gym shirt!”

I gave her a pleading look, letting my eyes get as big as they could.

“Okay, okay. I will sniff his gym shirt, but after I find him, I’m going to have to give my nose a bath in perfume, so you better have something good in your locker.”

“Eight different brands. You know it!” I said, beaming at her, “Carmilla says to meet her in the Halloween room, so we should start making out way over there to meet her.”

“While you ghouls go that way, ah’ll take a look in a few of those little secret areas again... just in case ah missed anything. If I see anything, Ah’ll sing.” Operetta said.

“Or you could just text us.” Clawdeen said, placing a hand on her hip.

“Where’s the fun in that, Darlin’?” Operetta said, already retreating into the shadows with a shimmy.

I really hoped Operetta didn’t find anything. Her voice was powerful enough to shake the catacombs to the ground and they would be hell on Clawdeen’s ears.

The hallway narrowed as we walked further into the catacombs, close enough that we had to duck from the spider webs. A few webs in my hair would be freaky fashionable, but these webs would leave a shroud around my entire head. 

Clawdeen stopped suddenly and I wondered if it was because she needed to scratch again. She kept telling me it felt like there was a spider in her fur. But she didn’t scratch this time.

Her hand slowly reached out and touched my shoulder. 

She placed a finger to her lips and turned her ears in a direction I was assuming she had heard a sound. It was coming from behind us.

I could hear faint footsteps splashing through the water behind us in the tunnel.

Suddenly, someone leapt through the air, tackling Clawdeen to the ground. She moved fast, like, vampire fast and I couldn’t figure out who she was. Her dark hair kept moving around her face as she hit Clawdeen with a frenzy of fists.

I wasn’t really a violent type, but I had to jump in. This girl was pummelling Clawdeen and it didn’t seem like it would end with them becoming friends again. She was going for all of the vulnerable parts, punching Clawdeen in the throat.

I tried to grab onto one of the attacker’s arms, but she was way stronger than I was. She threw me aside with one arm. It felt like I had just been hit by a car. I was dazed. 

Suddenly she was on me. Clawdeen looked unconscious on the ground. There was blood all around her. I just hoped she was still alive. 

The attacker brushed the hair out of her face so she could get a good look at me. Her eyes were black, her face pale, and her lips scarlet red.... Scarlet Empress perhaps? This was Justin Biter’s killer... and it was also Slaymie. Could she be out for revenge for turning her into a vampire.

She pulled something out of the back of her pants. I recognized the sleek, pointed wood. 

A stake.

She leapt at me.

Somehow I managed to turn into a bat in time and her stake collided with the wall where my heart would have been. 

She was good at this. Too good for a girl trying to get revenge for being turned into a human.

“Slayer” I squeaked, saying the word of the creature that had haunted my nightmares. I couldn’t focus. I just tried to fly in every direction, to get away from this nightmare made real.

“That’s right vamp.” She said, looking around the tunnel for me as I flew erratically. 

I heard a twang of wood as her stake collided with the ceiling where I had been flying moments before. 

“Look, I’m sorry that someone attacked you.” I squeaked at her, “I understand your need for revenge, but there are other ways. You don’t need to attack innocent vampires”

This tunnel was way too small. I couldn’t maneuver even in my tiny bat form. 

“Innocent vampire? No such thing” Slaymie said, “Besides, none of you attacked me. I wasn’t bitten by a vamp. I poked my jugular with a barbecue fork so I could get access to your school. I played you.”

I flew at the Slayer’s face, raking my claws across her eyebrows as I passed. I knew that all I was really doing was annoying her, but I was mostly in a panicked flight and all I wanted to do was drive her away from Clawdeen and I.

“You know I’ll catch up with you eventually” She said, crouching low. She leapt high and tried to slap me out of the air. “I recommend you give up now and get this over with. I still have your little werewolf friend to deal with and if you give up, I might let her go. I’m a vampire slayer - it’s really only you I want.”

“Bigots like you never just stick to one enemy. You will eventually come for both of us” I squeaked.

The Slayer backflipped over to Clawdeen, holding her stake over Clawdeen’s heart, “Alright, well, if you want her to live for the next few seconds, you should probably turn back into a vampire. I don’t know what will kill a werewolf, but I imagine that a piece of wood shoved with enough force into her heart should do the job.” 

I don’t know how I got the courage to do it, but I turned back into my vampire form and dropped to the ground in front of the Slayer. She strode toward me, stake upraised and I found myself frozen in place. I closed my eyes.

I waited.

Nothing happened.

I slowly opened one eye.

A blond woman was holding Slaymie’s arm. She looked as surprised as I was.

“That’s enough” The blond woman said. She looked tiny like me, but she also radiated strength. I only hoped that I could radiate that kind of strength one day.

“You aren’t a vamp” Slaymie said to the blond woman, “What are you? You seem... sort of familiar.”

“I’m the Slayer” the blond said.

“You can’t be the Slayer” Slaymie said, “There can only be one and I’m her. ‘In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness’. She alone. So who the hell are you?”

“I’m Buffy... the Vampire Slayer” The blond said, “I’m the one who changed all that. You don’t have to be alone. None of us have to be alone any more. I broke the chain. I let all of the potential Slayers become Slayers. Someone’s been feeding you some misinformation.”

“You expect me to believe any of this” Slaymie tried to shake off Buffy’s grip, but Buffy grabbed her other arm, standing between us, “You are standing with them. You’re protecting a vamp for God’s sake.”

“You don’t understand what is going on here. These monsters aren’t like the ones that we have been fighting. We have had people watching them for a long time. They aren’t a threat to us... they aren’t a threat to anyone. Haven’t you noticed anything different about this place?”

Slaymie looked confused. She must have noticed how we treat people. I can’t imagine that she didn’t, so I added “All we want is for everyone to get along. I told you all of this when we found you. Didn’t you notice that none of us ever tried to hurt you? We were being honest when we said that everyone has a place here at Monster High. We celebrate our differences... we celebrate all of the differences. We want a place where everyone can feel like they belong no matter what their scaritage. And I for one have always hoped that even monsters and Normies - humans - can resolve our differences. Humans may have driven me and my family from our home, but I want to live in a world where we can come together to try to heal some of that pain.”

Buffy stared at me for several minutes. It seemed like even she was having a hard time with what I was saying, which, I guess, made sense. She did call herself a Vampire Slayer even though she was protecting me right now.

“Look, we’ve been monitoring this situation and these vampires aren’t like the others. None of these monsters are. They have compassion. They have souls.”

“But my Watcher said-“ Slaymie tried to interrupt.

“We got rid of the Watchers, a long time ago. Whoever it was who was claiming to be your watcher was just someone trying to control you because he doesn’t have power of his own. We don’t need men to tell us how to understand our world. We don’t need them testing and controlling us. We can make our own decisions and our own way in the world. And part of the things that we have been doing is asking questions about the push to kill all of the monsters. I have met two vampires who have souls in my lifetime. They have compassion. They can even feel love. Isn’t it possible that there are more? In the whole time the Slayers have been watching this school, we haven’t seen any of the students hurt anyone. Yes, there is some minor bullying, but that’s because they are teenagers, just like you, and just as vicious as you... but they aren’t unholy.”

Slaymie dropped her arms down and they hung limply from Buffy’s hands. “But I-“

“We know” Buffy said, “And we can deal with that too. Come with us. We have a lot to teach you.” She dropped Slaymie’s arms and instead held out a hand in friendship.

Slaymie took her hand. 

She looked over at me. “I’m - I really don’t know how to say it. There’s no way I can apologize for what I’ve done.”

Now that she seemed to be contained, I ran over to Clawdeen, checking her pulse.

She was still alive, her heart beating steadily.

It was a full moon tonight. I just needed to get her outside and she would heal quickly. I lifted her up, looking over at Buffy and Slaymie, “Thank you, Buffy. I really appreciate everything that you did for me. Maybe Slayers aren’t the creature of my nightmares like I thought they were. Maybe we can even get along?”

“As long as you don’t hurt anyone” she said, “Because if you do, there are a lot more Slayers out there now.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me hurting anyone. I’m a vegetarian. I faint at the sight of blood.”

“Then you are getting over your fear of blood for your friend. You should get her out under the moonlight as soon as you can.”

She was right. I wasn’t fainting. I wasn’t gagging. Yet Clawdeen’s blood was running down by shirt. It was different this time. I was helping a friend. It pushed aside my phobia. 

I ran faster than I have ever run, clutching Clawdeen tight to my chest.

***

She healed quickly in the moonlight, her body knitting back together until she was healthy enough to howl a thanks to the moon.

“What do you think she meant - that Buffy woman - when she said they had been watching us for a long time?”

“I have no idea. It was pretty weird and I am pretty creeped out at the idea that I have been watched... that all of us have been watched.”

“Can monsters really be that different everywhere else?” Clawdeen asked, “I really can’t imagine monsters going out and hurting people. I assumed that was just human propaganda about us. And if other monsters really do hurt people, why are we different? Why is it that everyone we know are friendly?”

“I don’t know either Clawdeen. She made it sound like we are all part of some freaky experiment... like we are a project that they are watching. I don’t like it. I mean, I love mad sciences as much as anyone else... well except for Frankie, she adores mad sciences... but I really don’t like the idea of being part of someone’s experiment. I feel really violated.”

“Me too. So, what do we do about it?”

“I guess we need to keep a closer eye on things.” I sighed, “We need to start questioning everything.”

“That’s not like you, Draculaura.”

“I know, but maybe it needs to be like me. We nearly got killed. Maybe we need to start asking questions and find out what is going on.”

 

***

“Amy stirred things up a bit at Monster High, but your spell is still intact. You and the coven may have to go back and reinforce it. How do you feel about becoming Casta Fierce again for a little while, Willow? Maybe play a few concerts there and try to reinforce your spell?”

“I can do it... It’s just... Ugh, so many puns. Why did we let Xander get involved in this project again?”

“Will, you are the most powerful witch on the planet and I don’t think even you have the power to stop Xander’s puns. Plus, you let him give you your name. That was totally on you!”

“What can I say, I loved watching She-Ra as a kid so as soon as he mentioned the name ‘Casta’, I was in. I had such a crush on Castaspella from She-Ra. I should have known even when I was a kid that I was a witch and a lesbian just from my feelings about Castaspella. So Xander tricked me. He used my love of the bad puns from She-Ra to get me on board.”

“Well, on the plus side, your whole non-violence spell has meant that Monster High is basically a self-sustaining anti-bullying campaign for monsters. They are so into it that they were actually giving me some lessons on acceptance.”

“Hopefully we can expand the spell eventually. Can you imagine what it would be like to have a whole society of Social Justice Monsters? The only ones who will be shaking in their boots will be the bigots!!”

“I can see the Twitter feeds now, complaining about SJMs.”

“It’ll happen!”


End file.
